Creative Ways Select Exhibitions

Still Listening: 150 Years of Jewish Family Service

At the heart of the exhibition was a 12 foot x 12 foot "Text Wall." It featured excerpts of client case reports, culled from JFS archives, of families helped by the organization between 1854 and the present. Five Los Angeles artists were commissioned to select one of these case reports and tells its story through an original work.

​"Seven Hours" Acrylic on canvas, by Yolanda Gonzalez. Case Report: 1957--A couple loses their newborn merely seven hours after birth. The husband shares his pain with a JFS therapist and is able to address his grief, and save their marriage.

"Addressing Pain," Mixed Media. By Dominique Moody. Case Report 1917: A young boy facing deportation to Canada turns to JFS for clothing to make the difficult winter journey back.

File box installation and video catalog the over 100 JFS programs currently assisting the L.A. community.

"And my People Shall Abide in Peaceful Habitation and Safe Dwellings..." Photograph series by Al Winn. Case Report, 1956. A family seeks funds to assist them in securing a small apartment.

Archival photographs and an audio installation communicated the stories of the early founders of L.A.'s philanthropic community.

"Suit and Shoes for the Boy" Detail. Mixed Media Painting by Benny Ferdman. Case Report: 1927. A mother requests, and receives, money from JFS to purchase a suit and shoes for her 13 year old son to wear to his public school graduation.